Small Swords Magazine Launches
In Shanghai on Friday, five expats launched a new English-language online publication called Small Swords Magazine. In a city with a dearth of well-written magazines or web sites, Small Swords looks and feels like the real deal Shanghai publication. Divided into four sections– life, sound, image and text– the magazine covers all relevant topics in and out of China. The Life section deals with news and Shanghai culture; the sound page is an impressive window into the Shanghai music scene; “Image” covers art, architecture, TV and movies; and the text section hosts book reviews, a bunch of stories about the Shanghai International Literary Festival, and a pretty sweet column called “Banned,” about literature that has been censored. I perused the site Friday and I found the content to be a cut above what I am used to reading in China. The lead story on the home page is about Chinese sarcasm, and humor in China in general, and reads like a Western-style feature story. And as someone who enjoys live music in Shanghai, the sound page has a comprehensive Shanghai concert listing page and legitimate reviews of recent concerts in Shanghai. But most striking about the site is the handsome design. Small Swords has a magazine feel with the characteristics of a well-crafted website, making use of bright thumbnail images and sidebar columns leading readers to more content. On the about page, the editors explain the name “Small Swords,” which while sounding like a self-deprecating joke among men (two of the editors are female), is really an homage to a political society that occupied Shanghai in the 19th century. Nice touch. I highly recommend you go to this site and jump around reading different things. If you left your love of reading periodicals back in the West, Small Swords Magazine will help you recapture some of it. If the renaissance in English-language media is coming to China, as I hear it is, then Small Swords Magazine might just be Botticelli.
•Small Swords Magazine